clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Opening Odds: No. 4 Tennessee vs. No. 13 Louisiana

An interesting matchup.

NCAA Basketball: South Carolina at Tennessee Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

Tennessee has landed a No. 4 seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament, drawing the 13th-seeded Louisiana Rajun Cajuns. Louisiana just completed their run through the Sun Belt Tournament, where they cut down the nets after beating South Alabama.

26-7 overall, Louisiana will now head to Orlando to face Tennessee in the East Region.

The Volunteers are coming off of a tough loss to Missouri in the SEC Tournament. Tennessee’s season sort of unraveled on them in February. They climbed as high as No. 2 in the AP Poll before the injury bug struck, and the losses began to pile up.

Now without star point guard Zakai Zeigler, Rick Barnes and Tennessee are entering the big dance sort of searching for answers. Could Louisiana pull the upset? A few analysts on CBS called for it immediately after seeing the matchup.

The oddsmakers still like Tennessee, however. Per DraftKings Sportsbook, Tennessee has opened as a 10.5 point favorite. The total is set for 136.5.

Per KenPom, Louisiana is the 92nd ranked team in the country. They have the 57th ranked offense and the 104th ranked defense. Tennessee is still ranked fifth overall in that metric, holding the nation’s second-ranked defense.

Tip-off is set for 9:40 p.m. ET on Thursday night. CBS will have the coverage.


East Region Odds

Purdue +250

Tennessee +380

Marquette +450

Kansas State +900

Duke +1000

Kentucky +1200

Michigan State +1500

Memphis +1600

Florida Atlantic +2000

USC +2000

(Odds/lines subject to change. T&Cs apply. See DraftKings.com/sportsbook for details.)